cover image The Book of Exodus: The Making & Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the Century

The Book of Exodus: The Making & Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the Century

Vivien Goldman, .. Three Rivers, $14.95 (325pp) ISBN 978-1-4000-5286-8

In this dense but well-written work, veteran journalist Goldman examines the cultural, political and violent roots of Bob Marley's classic record Exodus . Goldman is undeniably as intrepid and insightful as music journalists come—and this effort clearly required every ounce of her talent. In setting the stage for what would become Marley's masterpiece, she reached beyond the Exodus sessions themselves into the early history of Marley and the Wailers, into the hornet's nest of Jamaican politics and the island's international history and African history, as well as the mystical, often contradictory, tenets of Rastafarianism. It is all necessary background for what made Marley both the searing performer he was and the iconic figure he would become—a fame that would nearly kill him. Just days before a planned free concert in 1976, Marley, his wife, Rita, and Don Taylor were wounded by gunmen, forcing Marley to flee to London, where Exodus was recorded. This is no pop music hagiography but a brimming, tightly constructed examination not just of Marley's life and music but of human nature itself and the struggle for freedom. The more casual fans of Marley may not follow; those who do will see deeper into the man and his music than ever before. (May)